Some agricultural vehicles are configured to be operated in fields among row crops. Application machines such as self-propelled sprayers, for example, may have wheels configured to pass between crop rows and a spray boom that extends outwardly from the vehicle to spray the crop as the machine travels through the field. In order to avoid damaging the crops as the vehicle moves through the field, each of the wheels must have the proper width to travel between the rows, and the track width—the lateral distance between the wheels—must match row spacing so that the wheels are properly positioned between crop rows. Furthermore, the vehicle should have sufficient ground clearance (the distance between the vehicle body and the surface over which it moves) to clear the crops.
While a standard height agricultural vehicle may be used to process short crops, such as early stage corn or the like, difficulties arise when processing taller crops, such as mature corn, that are taller than the ground clearance of a standard vehicle. For such crops, high clearance vehicles may be used. While high clearance vehicles provide sufficient clearance to pass over the top of taller crops, they suffer from various limitations. For example, high clearance vehicles, such as those that provide a crop clearance of seventy inches or more, may have an overall height that exceeds highway height restrictions, thereby making the transport of such vehicles to and from the field difficult. For example, public highways often restrict the height of a load to twelve feet or less which may be exceeded when a high clearance vehicle is placed on a transport trailer. Thus, measures may need to be taken to lower the vehicle to an acceptable transport height, such as deflating the tires or entirely removing the wheels.
In addition, while high clearance vehicles may be desirable for use on tall crops, they are not as effective in processing shorter crops without added complexity in the boom lifting mechanism to accommodate the range of motion required to place the boom at the proper height above the crop when spraying at the various crop heights. Some systems have been developed to increase the ground clearance of an existing vehicle. But these systems are complicated and require the removal of existing vehicle equipment and/or the addition of new equipment.
The above section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.